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It seems to me to be mostly poor distribution. With 7 Walmarts and just as many Targets and 3 toys r us's in San Diego that I check weekly I notice each store has it's shelf warmers that vary from the previous.

I never once saw a Highbrow and only once saw an Axor. I grabbed an Axor online after passing him up at Walmart, thinking I'd see him many times over. Highbrow being a no show anywhere (even the Military NEX/MCX) is weird, considering I still occasionally find a Banzitron and some of the other decent HFTD's.

I went last night and checked a Walmart I rarely visit because of the drive and found that they still have Bludgeon and Mindwipe instock. Their newest seemed to be the WFC line. There were only a few of those , but plenty of Jolts and other overstocked ROTF figures..... I do kind of wonder if the fact of ordering online has alot to do with them not really restocking or getting in new stuff.

dirk2243 wrote:It seems to me to be mostly poor distribution. With 7 Walmarts and just as many Targets and 3 toys r us's in San Diego that I check weekly I notice each store has it's shelf warmers that vary from the previous.

I never once saw a Highbrow and only once saw an Axor. I grabbed an Axor online after passing him up at Walmart, thinking I'd see him many times over. Highbrow being a no show anywhere (even the Military NEX/MCX) is weird, considering I still occasionally find a Banzitron and some of the other decent HFTD's.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. It's definitely distribution.

Erie, PA:

West Erie Wal-Mart: Nothing new.
East Erie Wal-Mart: Nothing new, and the pegs are bare.
Peach St. Wal-Mart: Same as the East.

Toys R Us: Restocks of the Cliffjumper/Thundering/Skullgrin/Blurr wave. Blurr is constantly sold out.

Target: Same as TRU. Restocked the Prime/Banzai-Tron wave.

That's five stores so far, and that's not even counting the K-Marts there.

Edinboro, PA:

Wal-Mart: Pegs and shelves are bare save for three boxes of Battle In Space and an errant Legend here and there.

Meadville, PA:

Wal-Mart and K-Mart: Same old, same old, except K-Mart's even worse, minus three old deluxes, the entire area is bare. The Legends exclusive pack was moved to clearance.

That's seven stores, and I've called others in the area with the same results.

That's not us being impatient. That's terrible distribution.

I can only speculate on the causes, but I couldn't find the classics Deluxe toys (Bumblebee, Wreck-Gar, Jazz, Laser Optimus, Perceptor) with the exception of Tracks until a few weeks ago. Suddenly, I woke up one Saturday, and headed to Target 5 miles down the road, and they had two or three of each.

Since then I've seen all at several Target stores, though fewer of Jazz and Wreck-Gar than the others. But I haven't seen them at local Wal-Marts or Toys R Us. Toys R Us still has a ton of ROTF Deluxes, which Target completely cleared out last year. And Wal-Mart just got a bunch more of crap like Tuner Skids and Sea Attack Ravage a couple weeks ago.

I still have not seen a single Voyager Reveal the Shield toy.

And there's the case of Power Core Grimstone. I saw exactly one at one local Walmart in December or so. Have not seen a single one at any local store since.

All I know is that it's unpredictable when the stores will get them. Beyond the problems of stores not receiving shipments when expected, I'd speculate that some store managers over-order on the early waves, then hold off ordering the later waves because the early ones don't sell as well as they hoped. I never saw a single HA Mudflap in Maryland--had to buy mine on Amazon. But there was always a crapload of HA Bumblebee and Skids, and now it's Shadow Blade Sideswipe.

I'm not sure why people are now surprised about the poor distribution and delays. During this season, it's always like this. 2009 ex: Universe 2.0 Legends Wave 5 were never spotted in Florida. 2010 ex: TRU Arcee was impossible to find for months.

It Is Him wrote:I'm not sure why people are now surprised about the poor distribution and delays. During this season, it's always like this. 2009 ex: Universe 2.0 Legends Wave 5 were never spotted in Florida. 2010 ex: TRU Arcee was impossible to find for months.

Ah, but you're not being entirely fair there.

Universe 2.0 Legends, yes. Never saw 'em once.

TRU Arcee wasn't impossible to find everywhere, but she was in small, small, small numbers.

This time? There's not only nothing on the shelves, there's nothing on order, and if there is any restock, it's of old stuff because they can't get in the new.

I'm pretty sure that even California hasn't had a sighting of Lugnut at retail. Legends? Canada, but only like once or twice.

Even BBTS was shortchanged on their order.

That's clearly a distribution issue and it's worse than it's been in a long, long time. Think Energon bad.

Wing Saber and the Dinobots were next to impossible to find. So was Galvatron.
The combiner limbs were horribly distributed. I found the first two of each combiner, and one of the second two of Superion at retail, and had to order the rest over the 'net.

Energon and RtS will go down in TF history as being the absolute worst in terms of distribution. Because it's a widespread problem in both cases.

The 2.0 Legends were merely one size class, not the entire line.

Autobot032 wrote:

It Is Him wrote:I'm not sure why people are now surprised about the poor distribution and delays. During this season, it's always like this. 2009 ex: Universe 2.0 Legends Wave 5 were never spotted in Florida. 2010 ex: TRU Arcee was impossible to find for months.

Ah, but you're not being entirely fair there.

Universe 2.0 Legends, yes. Never saw 'em once.

TRU Arcee wasn't impossible to find everywhere, but she was in small, small, small numbers.

This time? There's not only nothing on the shelves, there's nothing on order, and if there is any restock, it's of old stuff because they can't get in the new.

I'm pretty sure that even California hasn't had a sighting of Lugnut at retail. Legends? Canada, but only like once or twice.

Even BBTS was shortchanged on their order.

That's clearly a distribution issue and it's worse than it's been in a long, long time. Think Energon bad.

Wing Saber and the Dinobots were next to impossible to find. So was Galvatron.
The combiner limbs were horribly distributed. I found the first two of each combiner, and one of the second two of Superion at retail, and had to order the rest over the 'net.

Energon and RtS will go down in TF history as being the absolute worst in terms of distribution. Because it's a widespread problem in both cases.

The 2.0 Legends were merely one size class, not the entire line.

Just a reminder, it's only February. You've still got a few months to find these guys. It's way too early call this one of the most poorly distributed lines, ever. You might feel differently in May.

I was convinced those Universe 2.0 legends figures didn't exist until I saw Brawn, the only one I DIDN'T want, at K-mart one day for like $6. Hasbro should re-release them.

Evil_the_Nub wrote:I was convinced those Universe 2.0 legends figures didn't exist until I saw Brawn, the only one I DIDN'T want, at K-mart one day for like $6. Hasbro should re-release them.

Yeah, I remember K-mart pricing Wave 3 at $6, which seemed like way too much.

I got lucky and nabbed the last BB at a Wal-Mart overflowing with Wave 3. The only other time I saw him was when I first spotted Cyclonus and Hound while out shopping with my girlfriend. Justifying two toys right before Christmas was hard enough, but three, whoa man... didn't want to tempt fate there.

If you're still hunting for the Legends, the Henkei minibot 3-packs I don't think are that expensive compared to the rest of the line, that might be worth looking into if your willing to settle for Takara-Tomy

It Is Him wrote:Just a reminder, it's only February. You've still got a few months to find these guys. It's way too early call this one of the most poorly distributed lines, ever. You might feel differently in May.

True...
(gets in time machine, sets for May 16th)
Ah...Toys R Us...boy I can't wait to get my hands on Dark of the Moon Ultimate Optimus Pr-
Reveal the Shield wave 2! Generations Wheeljack! C'mon, I bought those guys months ago. (turns to employee) Excuse me, when are you getting Dark of the Moon toys in? "Umm...like July at the earliest. I got some more of these guys to restock yet. Hey, we got more Revenge of the Fallen packs to put out soon."

Business as usual in my city. I seriously wouldn't doubt that this happens.